Decorticating-machine.



M. PRIETO.

DEGORTIGATING MACHINE.

APPLICATION FILED APR.16, 1909 Patented July 18, 1911.

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Patented July 18, 1911.

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MANUEL PRIE'IO, OF MERIDA, MEXICO, ASSIGNOR TO PRIETO MACHINE CO. INC., A CORPORATION OF MAINE.

DECORTICATING-MACHINE.

scenes.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented July 18, 1911.

Application filed April 16, 1909. Serial No. 490,310.

To all whom it may concern Be it known that I, MANUEL PRInro, a subject of the King of Spain, and resident of ltiferida, Yucatan, Mexico, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Decoi'ticating-ltlachincs, of which the following is a specification.

This invention relates to improvements in fiber cleaning machines and has for its object the production of a machine of simple and compact construction in which the entire cleaning of the fibrous leaves is done with a single scutching wheel.

In the machine which has been designed and which incorporates this invention, a carrying mechanism and changing device of peculiar construction have been designed by means of which the opposite ends of the leaves are successively presented to the scutching wheel and cleaned thereby. This machine receives the leaves to be treated between two entrance rollers and a carrier chain, feeding them under a carrier shoewhich holds and guides them past the scutching drum, cleaning the butt end of the leaves. The leaves then pass to a changing device which places the cleaned part of the leaves between the side of the carrier-chain and frame-box, allowing the uncleaned tip end to overhang and be carried again past the drum, where the part of leaves which has not been treated before is then cleaned. The clean fiber is carried out of the machine and ready to be dried. Thus an automatic process of cleaning the entire leaf with one scutching wheel is provided in" which it is only necessary to feed leaves once into the machine. This results in a more simple and compact construction, resulting in a great saving of power and space.

Other objects will be in part obvious and will in part appear hereinafter in connection with the description of the machine shown in the accompanying drawings.

Like parts in the several views have been given the same reference numerals.

Figure 1 is a side elevation of a fiber cleaning machine, embodying my invention. Fig. 2 is a plan view of the same. Fig. 3 is a front elevation of the machine. Fig. 4- is a view of a portion of the changing device. Fig. 5 is an enlarged detailed view of a portion of the carrier chain. Fig. 6 is an enlarged sectional view of a portion of the carrying mechanism.

A base 1 is provided upon which the operating mechanism is mounted.

The leaves are fed horizontally between the entrance rollers 2 and the carrier chain 3. The carrier chain 3 is of endless construction, having its several lengths provided with projections which engage the leaves and carry the same forward under the contact shoe 4, which is provided with grooves so that the same cooperate with the projections on the carrier chain 3 and holds the leaves while the same are carried by and operated upon by the knives 5 of the scutching wheel 6. This operation cleans one end of the leaves while the opposite end is raised from a horizontal to a vertical position by means of the inclined member 7. The leaves are then carried to the changing device 8 and the lower or cleaned portion of the leaves engaged by a cam member 9 which draws this portion of the leaves slightly inward while the upper portion of the leaf is securely held between the changing wheel 8 and the guide-shoe 10, as shown in Fig. 4: at a. After the leaves are carried around the changing wheel 8 the upper or uncleaned portion a passes out of engagement with the guide-shoe l0 and falls outwardly over into the position shown at b in Fig. 4. The leaf is then held in this position between the carrier chain 3 and the frame 11. The frame 11 and the carrier chain 3 are corrugated, as shown in Fig. 6, so that the leaves are firmly gripped and held while carried around the second time into engagement with the scutching wheel 6 where theopposite end of the leaf is then cleaned. It will thus be seen that the operation of cleaning the entire leaf is automatic, the leaves being first fed horizontally on top of the carrier chain 8, held between the upper portion of the carrier chain and the contact shoe 4: while the first operation of cleaning one end of the leaves is performed, the position of the leaf then being reversed by the inclined member 7 and the changing mechanism 8, the leaves held by the outer portion of the carrier chain 3 and the frame 11 and carried the second time past the scutching wheel, cleaned and then delivered.

The scutching wheel 6 is driven by a belt pulley 12 from a suitable source of power. The carrier chain and changing mechanism are driven from a pulley 13 which is mounted on a shaft 14:- Bevel gears 15 and 16 in turn drive the shaft 17 and bevel gears 18 and 19 drive the shaft 20 which drives the carrier chain 3 and changing mechanism 8.

As many changes could be made in the above construction and many apparently widely different embodiments of my invention designed without departing from the scope of the appended claims, I intend that all matter contained in the above description or shown in the accompanying drawings shall be interpreted as illustrative merely of an operative embodiment of my invention and not in a limiting sense.

What'I claim is:

1. In a machine of the class described, the combination with a scutching wheel, of a continuous carrier adapted to operate in front of said wheel and carry the opposite ends of the leaves to be cleaned successively into operative engagement therewith, and means for automatically reversing the posi tion of said leaves between said successive operations, comprising means for raising the uncleaned end of the leaf, for forcing the cleaned end inwardly and for subsequently releasing said uncleaned end for successive operation thereon.

2. In a machine of the class described, the combination with a scutching wheel, of a continuous carrier adapted to cooperate therewith, a contact shoe located directly in front of said scutching wheel adapted to coope ate with said carrier and conform with the shape thereof, means for raising the uncleaned end of a leaf after one extremity has been operated upon, means for carrying said cleaned end inwardly at the same time, thereby presenting said uncleaned end to the scutching wheel on the second operation of the carrier, and a frame cooperating with said carrier opposite to said contact shoe adapted to clamp the leaves between said frame and said carrier.

Signed at Merida, Yucatan, Mexico, this 2 f day of March 1909.

MANUEL PRIETO.

Witnesses:

GALo FERNANDEZ, P. PINALY.

Copies of this patent may be obtained for five cents each, by addressing the Commissioner of Patents, Washington, D. G. 

